Homestretch
by Beckon
Summary: It was getting more and more difficult for them to find one-on-one time with each other, so they had to make due where they could- even if it meant putting up with one another's antics for a night. Even if it meant dragging him out to a hole in the wall bar so they could unwind for a little bit and air out some grievances.


"Why do I keep letting you drag me out here?"

Sonya chuckled at his pointed question, taking note of the seemingly unamused look on his face.

Kenshi didn't often take her up on the offer of going out to a bar.

Which was unfortunate, because they always had a good time when he did.

And despite his implication, he had decided on his own to join her this time and had made no distinguishing remark about doing so beforehand; meanwhile she had absolutely no issue with calling up Jax or Vera to join her in his absence. Kenshi had even remarked before that it had been awhile since he last accepted her invite, and that the long-hours he was spending in Outworld had left him without a proper update on what she was doing. And having a conversation over a few drinks didn't sound like a bad way to catch up on things.

A welcoming reason, although Sonya didn't like to talk about work while they were drinking.

"No one made you come out here," she reminded. "In fact, no one can make you do anything, you're more stubborn than you realize."

"The pot calling the kettle black, are we?"

He was more trouble than he was worth at times as well.

But it was getting more and more difficult for them to find one-on-one time with each other, so they had to make due where they could- even if it meant putting up with one another's antics for a night. Even if it meant dragging him out to a hole in the wall bar so they could unwind for a little bit and air out some grievances.

Sonya knew which bars the soldiers on base frequented the most and went out of her way to avoid those ones; she also made sure to steer clear of the bars that Cassie and her team liked to convene at.

Doing so usually forced them to drive out further than necessary, but if it meant getting some privacy than so be it.

The time spent traveling was well worth the trade off.

No one outside of the Special Forces base, or outside of any international political cabinets would know what the General of the Special Forces looked like, or was supposed to look like. She didn't do publicized events, or speeches, so no ordinary civilian would ever be able to pin her as such; most people probably assumed the General was a man anyways, especially based on her last name.

She was pretty confident that she could walk into most bars in full uniform and no one would give a shit about who she was.

Still, Sonya didn't like to drink in uniform, and she didn't like to take unnecessary risks with her personal life.

She would just pull her braid out and pull it back into a ponytail instead, removing one trademark that made her recognizable- although one could argue that the ponytail was still a defining feature as well. She traded her General's uniform out for a pair of jeans and an open jacket, something simple that made her easier to blend in with.

Kenshi, on the other hand, was much harder to get dressed down and looking normal.

Which might've been why he often dragged his feet with coming out to drink with her.

Sonya could usually get him down to a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, sometimes pairing it with a jacket as well given his sensitivity to the cold. His biggest complaint was usually about having to trade his blindfold out for a more discreet pair of sunglasses; oddly enough, he seemed perfectly okay with having to leave Sento in the truck while they were inside.

The bar she had picked for tonight was loud, mostly due to the mix of people chatting and the radio playing overhead, which only forced some people to speak louder than necessary.

But she had picked a corner booth in the back where it was quieter, and where they were more discreet.

Leaning back against the cushioned seat, Sonya propped her legs across his own and felt the immediate weight of his hand as he moved to rest it on her knee; a comforting gesture for the both of them.

"I don't think you're supposed to have your shoes on the seats," Kenshi remarked, his hand slowly running up and down the length of her leg now.

"My shoes aren't on the seats," Sonya corrected, "they're on you."

"Fair point."

She chuckled once more as she ran her fingers through her hair, unaccustomed to the loose style of it. She was so used to having it pulled tight behind her, out of sight, out of mind style, she hadn't realized just how long it had gotten. "I drag you out here so we can spend some quality time together," Sonya mused. "And in a way that doesn't involve violence, or things blowing up- which doesn't leave us with a lot of options."

"You got me there," Kenshi admitted.

"It gives us space too," she added.

"We're eventually going to run out of space," he reminded.

"And we'll tackle that when we get there," she half-assured, as she picked her glass up from the table and took a drink from it. "Until then, let's just enjoy the time and space that we have- as shrinking as it is."

"I can do that."

Sonya watched as Kenshi rubbed at his eyes from underneath the sunglasses before he took them off completely, moving to hook them onto the neckline of his shirt instead. She guessed the dim lighting of the bar didn't irritate his eyes as much as she thought it would, as much as they had before- either that or he just didn't care if someone was staring at the supposed burn scars around them.

Then again, given the bar crowd for the night, she didn't think many of the patrons were sober enough to realize what they were seeing.

"You've been on and off the base a lot recently, anything going on?" Sonya questioned.

"Nothing you don't already know about," he offered.

"There's gotta be something."

Kenshi shrugged in response, leaning back against the booth seat himself. "I've been bouncing between the work you give me and the work the OWIA needs me to do. Outworld's a little more hostile than it used to be- although it's nothing that I'm not already used to. It is taking longer to get answers out of people though, and traveling is sketchy these days."

"I've offered armed escorts," Sonya remarked.

"In order to speak to Outworlders, they need to think I am one," Kenshi reminded. "No Outworlder has armed guards with them. Besides, you know I don't like the guns they carry."

Spending time on the Special Forces base, as well as with her, had forced Kenshi to get used to the sound of gunfire.

He still didn't like it, but he had gotten used to it- enough so that he didn't flinch every time a gun went off.

But those were single-fire guns.

Rapid-fire were another story.

And unfortunately, rapid-fire were the only ones proven to be effective in Outworld- especially with the wildlife.

One too many close calls with the dreaded Leech-Snakes had proven that it was the only way to go.

"Li Mei's getting worried about the war that's going on," Kenshi continued. "She says the battles are getting closer and closer to Sun Do and she's not sure what the village can do if either sides start intruding. I couldn't really tell her much since it's not a Special Forces issue right now, but I don't think she wanted advice about it. I think she just wanted someone to recognize what was going on."

Li Mei was one of their consultants between Outworld and Earthrealm.

A lot of their updates about the ensuing civil war came from her.

And since Kenshi was a direct consultant for the Special Forces and OWIA, the two of them worked together from time to time- depending on the case. And they worked well together, which made her feel better about him being in Outworld to begin with. Not that he needed to prove himself, but it was easier for her to let him go without armed escorts knowing that there was sanctuary provided should something occur.

Li Mei also kept her updated on Kenshi's whereabouts, when it was possible.

"As if Outworld couldn't get any worse," Sonya remarked, "they just had to start a civil war."

"Outworld can always get worse," Kenshi reminded, "- and it will continue to do so until the energy holding it together falls apart."

"Or until I get confirmation to push the red button," she added, swirling her glass around in her hand before she took another drink from it.

He seemed to humor her with a brisk laugh response, only to follow it up with a shake of his head.

"Aren't you at the top of the food chain?" he questioned.

"Technically yes- the only person in-command that I need to report to is the President," Sonya remarked. "Also technically, anything strictly dealing with the Special Forces or use of military weaponry doesn't need Raiden's approval; he can't veto any decision that I make based on my own position."

"So what's stopping you?"

"Nuclear weapons aren't things to play with, and the few times they were used, they weren't used correctly," she replied. "They're powerful- powerful enough to wipe Outworld out of existence, probably just make the whole place implode. But with all the unstable energy keeping the realm together, there's a good chance any sort of implosion could hit Earthrealm as well, and there's no telling what kind of damage it could do."

Sonya paused, just long enough to take another sip of her drink before she set it back on the table.

"Despite how I feel about the realm, there are still a lot of innocent people in Outworld," she continued. "We wouldn't be able to evacuate all of them- and they don't deserve to be punished for the sins of a Kahn."

"That's honorable," Kenshi noted.

Maybe, but anyone with any sense of humanity would know how bad of an idea it was.

The repercussions wouldn't justify anything.

It was a fun thought to have, but the reality of it was far from it.

"You wouldn't want to become the caricature U.S. General that Cage likes to have portrayed in his movies."

Sonya heard herself snort out a laugh before she could stop it, glad now that she had put down her drink. "And how would you know what Cage's movies are like?" she queried. "Did he sit you down and force you to watch them with him?"

"Nah, I was reading the synopsis of them online," Kenshi replied.

She couldn't believe him sometimes.

This was the man she wanted to be with.

"Hypothetically, if we were to nuke Outworld and it somehow survived, could you imagine what the radiation would do to the creatures living there?" Sonya continued, broaching on another train of thought that she used to keep herself sane. "I don't want to know what a mutated Tarkatan would look like."

"I don't even know what a normal Tarkatan looks like," Kenshi remarked- and then laughed when she pressed her heel into his unguarded stomach. "I think we both have to accept that Outworld is on a collision course and there's nothing we can do to stop it- politically or diplomatically. We just have to hope that whatever or whoever survives the aftermath doesn't come for Earthrealm next."

But that was the thing.

Outworld would always come after Earthrealm.

It had always been like that, and there was no reason to assume it would be different.

And this was why she didn't like to talk about work during their rare off-hours.

Because now Sonya found herself on that same train of thought.

It was bad enough that they had the Netherrealm breathing down their necks, they didn't need Outworld to come after them as well. There had been attempts to talk with the rivaling Kahns, but each demanded that Earthrealm pick a side- and right now, they weren't in a position to do so. They couldn't risk getting involved in a war that had nothing to do with them, not right now at least.

Their only ally at the moment was Orderrealm, and that alliance was constantly on thin ice.

Other than them, Earthrealm had no one.

It felt like even the Elder Gods had abandoned them.

It felt like she was the last stronghold keeping Earthrealm together.

"Let's taking about something else," Sonya offered, breaking her own thoughts and drowning them out with another sip of beer. "Preferably something that's not going to give me a headache."

"Does anything not give you a headache?" Kenshi asked.

"You're giving me one right now."

He leaned forward and moved his hand to rest against her thigh now, briefly squeezing it underneath his hold. "I enjoy these date nights of ours," he started, teasing her with the idea of calling them that, "although maybe we could choose a different place next time."

"Yeah?" Sonya mused. "What are you thinking? Some place fancier?"

"Quieter."

A given.

"It's not a bad idea," she replied. "There are a couple of places closer to the base we could try out."

"We run the risk of people seeing us," Kenshi reminded.

Sonya offered a shrug. "Maybe... we should let them see."

They had had this conversation numerous times now.

Sometimes she instigated it, sometimes he did.

And sometimes they both did.

And sometimes they just decided to completely ignore the issues at hand.

Kenshi had already briefly mentioned it before when he brought up them running out of space; a harmless sounding comment now twisted into this topic.

Eventually, their luck was bound to run out.

Someone was bound to see them together, and their excuses for whatever situation they were in would fail to convince anyone.

In some cases, they both worked better when they could think ahead, when they could visualize their options.

And in other cases, they worked better when they were trapped in a corner.

But something like this was too delicate to just drop in a conversation.

Although they had almost been caught a few times too many already, enough so that Sonya was pretty certain that Raiden at least had an idea that something was going on between them. But the God was too busy to say anything- or too hesitant, lest he be the one to break the news and be listed as the bad guy. Or try to talk to her about it and get on her bad side.

Not that she would, at least she didn't think she'd be mad about it.

She could deny it and Raiden would leave her at her word, but even that felt too dirty.

"We could," Kenshi agreed.

As if it was that simple.

Both of their lives crossed over into the same social circle.

They had known each other since the end of the Tournament. Hell, Kenshi had been invited to her wedding with Cage, and he had brought Suchin as his plus-one. He and Cage worked well together, despite their constant ribbing on one another. Cassie and Takeda worked on the same team together; Takeda was engaged to Jacqui, who was also her goddaughter.

It just felt like something like this would cause a nuclear implosion on its own.

It didn't help that Cassie still wasn't over the divorce, and neither was Cage to an extent.

The two of them used each other as a support system, which only furthered the feeling of her being the odd man out.

Sonya knew that she wasn't completely innocent in the whole ordeal, but it didn't change the stated facts.

"Do you hate keeping it a secret?" he asked.

"It's annoying," Sonya answered. "It feels like I have to second-guess everything I'm doing- and then I have to make sure that I'm covering my tracks every time. And you're not an easy man to handle."

"Something we have in common," Kenshi retorted.

She shook her head before she moved a hand to cover his own, curling her fingers around them, and feeling the way he moved to embrace the gesture. She brushed her thumb across his knuckles, feeling the rarity of his hands being exposed- allowing her to feel the coarse scar tissue under her touch. "We should ask ourselves whether or not we want to be in control when the situation comes up," Sonya remarked.

"It would be the safest way of handling it," he replied, "but it would also require us to figure out how to announce it."

"Maybe they already know," she offered with a shrug. "Maybe we're not giving them enough credit to figure it all out for themselves."

"They don't."

She started to question how he knew that, but stopped herself when she answered her own question.

Classic telepathic behavior.

"Let's just start hanging out around the base," he spoke, "let them come to their own conclusions."

"I think you're overestimating who we're dealing with here," Sonya remarked- to which he chuckled in response. "Maybe that's not entirely true, I mean Cassie's pretty smart when it comes to finding things out for the drama of it. Although this probably isn't the kind of drama she'd want to stumble upon."

Sonya liked to think that maybe they were blowing things out of proportion here.

They were both getting older; they both knew each for well over two decades now.

It seemed pretty reasonable and expected.

Then again, it had taken her a long time to come to terms with her feelings for him. It had been a slow burn that just built up throughout the years. She had kept Kenshi around as a distraction after the divorce was finalized; she would take him out into the field, run ops that she didn't need to be on the ground for- go run Black Dragon hideouts into the ground just to clear her head.

Admittedly, during that time frame, she was hesitant to be by herself- but only because she was afraid she'd let her anger and frustrations blind her. Kenshi kept her grounded, kept her focused, like he always had; despite how everything else around her seemed to unload and shift, he never changed.

Things just grew from there.

It didn't feel like there was any real defining moment between them.

Every interaction, every touch, every conversation just felt natural.

_Port Said._

If any moment had to be picked to be the defining one, to be the one to open her eyes on what was going on between them, it was that one.

A rundown on a Black Dragons hideout, complete with full air support.

Ocean support was on standby, just in case.

That was two years before- Gods, they were predictable even from the start.

"What are your plans for tonight?" Kenshi spoke, breaking her from her thoughts once more. And Sonya couldn't help but wonder if he was reading the sense of tension she was putting off. "Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Same shit, different day," she offered. "No busier than I usually am, but my plans are pretty empty tonight. I didn't account for anything other than this- and since I have to drive back, I can't really drink more than I already have. Got plenty to drink at home though, so I might just pick things back up from there."

She didn't drink often, and it wasn't exactly the best stress-reliever, but everyone was entitled to one dirty sin and if hers was going to be getting wasted one day out of the month, than so be it.

It could be a lot worse.

Like, launching nuclear missiles in Outworld worse.

"We should head back to your place then," he remarked.

"If we head back, we're not gonna be drinking," Sonya replied.

"Wasn't planning on it."

She chuckled before she leaned forward, one hand moving to grab his jacket before Sonya pulled him into her- feeling the way Kenshi grinned against her lips as she kissed him.

"Finish your drink and we'll head out."


End file.
